The ability to shoot down planes of fighters Ukraine

The Su-25 is a close-range air support and fighter aircraft, mostly used to destroy tanks or armored vehicles, but is suspected of being able to shoot down MH17 aircraft. Malaysia.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on July 21 that Kiev's fighters were involved and was behind the shooting of MH17 aircraft in eastern Ukraine. According to Lieutenant General Igor Makushev of the Russian Air Force, the air traffic control system detected a Ukrainian air force plane, apparently a Su-25 fighter, chasing the direction of the Malaysian Boeing.

A SU-25 fighter is equipped with a weapon.(Photos: Wikipedia)

According to some assumptions, the Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 fighter was armed with air defense missiles and flew at 10,000 meters, within a distance of about 5 kilometers from MH17. This implies that Ukraine's Su-25 itself shot down MH17. The main Russian broadcasters, including RT English TV channel, state news agency RIA Novosti and Pravda.ru, all reported the incident.

The Sukhoi Su-25 , NATO's nickname "Frogfoot" , is a direct Soviet-made anti-tank and anti-tank fighter aircraft from the Cold War. The Su-25 made its first flight in 1979, serving the air force in many areas of the Soviet Union at the time, including Ukraine.

The Su-25 was armored and heavily armed, with a 30mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-2 cannon, the weapon attacking the ground about 4,000kg. Among the weapons with AA-8 Aphid air defense missiles, usually limited to less than 3km range. This type of vehicle is primarily used to destroy tanks, armored vehicles, trucks, bunkers.

Earlier, two Ukrainian fighters had also been discovered by an air traffic control officer following the flight MH17 just minutes before it fell. The above information raises doubts that Ukraine is behind MH17.

A Su-25 at Russia's Kubinka Air Force Base.(Photos: Wikipedia)

In fact, the Sukhoi Su-25 is a type of aircraft not designed to carry out the task of destroying aircraft. This is a kind of aerial support vehicle at close range, or ground attack aircraft (attack aircraft) . Su-25 can only fly at an altitude of about 7,000m, lower than the height of MH17. For an anti-tank aircraft, this is not a big problem, but it will raise questions about the assumptions that Ukraine uses the Su-25 to shoot down MH17 aircraft.

In the context of MH17, the practical capabilities that this type of aircraft can and cannot do is the information that Russia refuses to provide. On the morning of July 21, a user with an IP address in Moscow edited the Su-25 fighter information on the Russian Wikipedia site, raising the maximum height of the aircraft to about 3,000m.

Meanwhile, the information on the Su-25 manufacturer's website, which provides information from the first version of the fighter and the actual ability of this vehicle, reflects the opposite. Accordingly, it is almost technically impossible for a Russian Su-25 to shoot down the Boeing 777.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 on July 17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine, while on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people, including 15 people from the flight crew, were killed.

The United States and Ukraine claimed that Malaysian aircraft were shot down by missile warheads fired from Russia's Buk air defense system. Russia denies anything related to supporting this rebellion, and accuses Ukraine of being behind the incident.